Hiromu Morishita

Hiroshima: Faces

Hiromu Morishita

When I got married and was blessed with my first child, I was astonished.

I was astonished at the daughter’s vitality,
desperately clinging to her mother’s breast,
even though her eyes were yet to open.

As I gazed at my sleeping daughter,
suddenly, the figure of a burnt child I had seen in the ruins floated before my eyes.

At that moment, a strong emotion sprang up in my heart.

No child should experience an atomic bombing again.
I must share my stories.

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Hiromu Morishita

Hiromu Morishita

Hiromu was born in Nakano-mura, Toyota-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture, on October 26, 1930. He had a family of seven, living with his parents, grandparents, and two younger sisters — younger than him by two years and seven years. At the age of four, his father, a primary school teacher, was transferred to Hiroshima City Oshiba Normal Primary School, and his family moved to Nishi-Hakushima-cho, Hiroshima City. Following the Showa Financial Crisis, Japan entered the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Pacific War (1941-1945). Hiromu grew up in an increasingly militaristic atmosphere. He graduated from an elementary school, Hakushima Kokumin School, and entered Kyusei-Hiroshima-Itchu (now Hiroshima Kokutaiji High School). Instead of studying, he worked in fields and was mobilized for local manufacturer Toyo Kogyo (now Mazda Motor Corporation) and an aviation service in Hiroshima.

On the day of the atomic bombing, August 6, 1945, Hiromu was in his third year of junior high school. He was suddenly struck by a flash of light while working on building demolition, 1.5 kilometers from the hypocenter. His face and hands were instantly burned severely. His mother was trapped under a collapsed building at their home in Nishi-Hakushima-cho and burned to death in the ensuing fire. His father was exposed to the bomb while deployed by a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant for demolition work at a temple in Kusatsu; the older of his younger sisters was exposed to the bomb at a shoe factory in Misasa but survived; the younger of the two sisters had been evacuated to Iimuro — a rural part of Hiroshima — and was safe.

Before the end of the day, Hiromu managed to reach an acquaintance’s home in Kawauchi-mura (current Asa-Minami-ku). He spent approximately two months recovering from his burns. In October, he moved to his uncle’s house in Mibu-cho (now Kitahiroshima-cho, Yamagata-gun), where his grandmother had evacuated. In January 1946, he moved to a dormitory in Gion, where his father worked. In the summer, he underwent two surgeries to treat the keloids scars on his face and neck.

The grief of losing his mother during his adolescence led Hiromu to develop his internal world, pursuing such ideals as kindness and Romanticism. In 1948, he entered Hiroshima Higher Normal School; the following year, due to the education system reform, he entered the Department of Japanese Literature in the Faculty of Letters of Hiroshima University. During his years at Hiroshima University, he severely suffered from tuberculosis and was often forced to take leaves of absence to recuperate. However, he distracted himself from his illness by writing poetry and novels.

In the spring of 1955, he began teaching Japanese literature and calligraphy at Oshita-Gakuen Gion High School. Since August 6, 1945, he could not accept his identity as one suffering from keloids due to the atomic bombing; even after becoming a high school calligraphy teacher, he never spoke about his experience of the atomic bombing. However, a turning point came when Hiromu was blessed with a daughter two years after his marriage in 1961. He sincerely felt the overwhelming vitality of life when he saw his first daughter breastfeeding; he began to talk about his experience of the atomic bombing, believing that “never again should children be sacrificed.”

In 1964, Hiromu participated for the first time in the second World Peace Pilgrimage organized by Barbara Reynolds (who later founded the World Friendship Center, a peace organization; Reynolds died in 1990), touring Europe, the United States, and the then Soviet Union to appeal for nuclear abolition. In the U.S., his group met with former President Truman, the one who decided to drop the atomic bombs. After returning to Japan, Hiromu continued to conduct surveys about atomic bomb awareness for high school students, helped found the Atomic Bombed Teachers Association, and served as the WFC President for many years until 2012.

As a calligrapher, Hiromu wrote the inscription for the Pope’s appeal for peace when he visited Hiroshima in 1981. The inscription that begins “War is the work of man” still stands at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, sending a strong message to a world shaken by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After retiring from Hatsukaichi High School in 1990, where he had worked for 30 years, he taught calligraphy at Shimane University and Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University (now Hiroshima Bunkyo University). Now in his 90s, Hiromu has never stopped striding towards peace.

On that day, Hiromu’s world turned upside down

▲November 3, 1936, a family picture from when Hiromu lived in Hakushima. Hiromu was around six years old (center).

August 6, 1945. Hiromu, who was 14 years old and in his third year of junior high school, was not feeling well that day and was told by his doctor to take a day off. However, his father told him to attend for the day and tell them that he would take the next day off, so he reluctantly left his home.

While working to demolish buildings at the foot of Tsurumi Bridge, about 1.5 km from the hypocenter, Hiromu was suddenly hit by a flash of light. He reflects, “It was so hot, like being thrown into a massive furnace.”

Hiromu’s face and neck were burned severely, and his friends nearby also had peeling skin on their faces. While escaping, he saw lines of soldiers with their hands stretched out like ghosts, and the charred bodies of dead infants. His mother, who had seen him off from the doorstep earlier that day, had passed away.

“Seeing the shattered bones of my mother that my father collected
My father and grandmother burst into tears
Exhausted with pain, I can’t even cry”
From the anthology “Faces of Hiroshima”

▲A photo captioned “May 3, Showa 6 (1931)”. Hiromu was six months old.

The caption reads “February, Showa 18 (1943).” Hiromu was 13 years old, in his first year of junior high school.▼

Mother passed away, Hiromu was left with keloids: Mental and physical wounds

Hiromu’s sense of grief over the loss of his mother escalated as he went through adolescence. His mother, who had so kindly seen him off at the door, reduced to nothing but white bones a few days later was too cruel and difficult for a 14-year-old boy to accept. “I would feel like my mother was going to show up somehow. My desire for kindness, a presence that would watch over me, grew stronger,” he said. The atomic bomb destroyed the city of Hiroshima. As if to erase the feeling of emptiness that “everything that has physical form crumbles and breaks down,” Hiromu sought something eternal, something that will never perish, something Romantic.

On the other hand, the keloids left on his face and neck became a “visible trauma” that tormented Hiromu for a long time. He felt the pain of not being able to escape the gazes of those around him. He hated looking in the mirror. He could not accept himself.

“The dome, it is my keloids. Fetters that I cannot escape. Though I want to destroy it, I do not because if I do, the world will collapse.”
In his collection of poems, “Faces of Hiroshima,” Hiromu expresses his internal conflict by comparing the Atomic Bomb Dome to his keloids.

▲Hiromu after the atomic bombing.

▲In 1946, at the site of Hiroshima Army Hospital Eba Branch. Hiromu met with his schoolmates for the first time since the atomic bombing. “Some of my friends had died, some, like me, had lost family members, and some had suffered burns. The values of militaristic education had collapsed, and we had lost everything. We were not in the condition to be sincerely happy to see friends again. I felt like screaming out loud.”

A drawing Hiromu made depicting his experience of the atomic bombing. In addition to the devastation he saw and experienced, he also depicted his friends’ experiences. The caption reads “A flash of light, a heat ray. In an instant, we 70 students were thrown into a huge furnace. And then the hot wind… (West of Tsurumi Bridge, 1.5km from the hypocenter)”

Reserved and provided by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

▲A drawing Hiromu made depicting his experience of the atomic bombing. In addition to the devastation he saw and experienced, he also depicted his friends’ experiences. The caption reads “A flash of light, a heat ray. In an instant, we 70 students were thrown into a huge furnace. And then the hot wind… (West of Tsurumi Bridge, 1.5km from the hypocenter)”

Reserved and provided by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

My father would often tell me the story of “Living with the acceptance of being bald.”

There was a monk who was bald since a young age.
Don’t be ashamed of your appearance,
Just be a person of pure heart.

He would comfort me with this story when I was bothered by my keloid scars.

Be a person of pure heart…
That is how I came to pursue the internal aspects of life through literature, poetry, and tanka (Japanese short poems).

Seeking solace in literature: Deeply observing daily lives, refining senses

▲Hiromu when he was in Hiroshima Higher Normal School (Now Hiroshima University, Faculty of Education).

▲A former army clothing factory in Hiroshima was used as a campus building for the Hiroshima Higher Normal School for several years from 1946. This is one of the rare photographs of the former army clothing factory at the time.

Knowing his son was bothered by his keloids, Hiromu’s father kept encouraging him not to worry about his appearance, which cannot change, but to refine his mind. Hiromu is still grateful to his father for this encouragement, which he says “led me to deepen my inner quest” in later life. While he studied at Hiroshima University, Hiromu immersed himself in writing poems and novels, but it took him six years to graduate from the university as he went through treatments for tuberculosis.

A friend suggested that Hiromu write tanka poems since he would be bored in his sickbed, so he joined a tanka poetry society and devoted himself to creating tanka poems. The society was based on aestheticism, which encouraged him to find beauty in life. Measuring body temperature with a thermometer — if the mercury scale rises, the body has a fever, which is considered “bad.” Aestheticism, however, considered the movement itself “beautiful.” By observing everyday life, his sensibility was refined. Hiromu contributed to magazines, and participated in literary criticism groups; his tanka poem writing, which was merely a way to pass the time on his sickbed, eventually became his ikigai — his purpose in life — and empowered him for his later creative activities, such as poetry and calligraphy.

When Hiromu was about to start his teaching career, he met people who were essential in the history of hibakusha in Hiroshima, such as Mr. Ichiro Kawamoto (center, back row) and Mrs. Ikimi Kikkawa (center, front row) who inspired him. Hiromu is on the right.

▲When Hiromu was about to start his teaching career, he met people who were essential in the history of hibakusha in Hiroshima, such as Mr. Ichiro Kawamoto (center, back row) and Mrs. Ikimi Kikkawa (center, front row) who inspired him. Hiromu is on the right.

Becoming a teacher: unable to disclose that he is a hibakusha

▲Taken around the time Hiromu started teaching Japanese and calligraphy at Oshita-Gakuen Gion High School. He taught only a few days per week due to the continued treatment of his tuberculosis.

◀Taken around the time Hiromu started teaching Japanese and calligraphy at Oshita-Gakuen Gion High School. He taught only a few days per week due to the continued treatment of his tuberculosis.

In 1956, more than ten years after the end of the war, an exposition on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy was held at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. As a teacher in a girls’ school, Hiromu went to the exposition on a school trip. “Tracking diseases (radioisotopes), and providing energy for airplanes and ships. The exhibit was praising the wonderful things that nuclear power can do.”

At the same time, however, memories of the atomic bombing remained in the same museum. Seeing exhibits like specimens of keloids and relics melted by the bomb’s intense heat, students whispered, “I’m scared, I’m scared,” and “I might not be able to sleep tonight.” Hiromu was enjoying his days as a teacher when he suddenly came to his senses. He thought, “What do these students think of me in the classroom? And my keloids. Ugly things are ugly, aren’t they…” He began to avoid topics related to the atomic bombing and even thought of terminating his teaching career.

Hiromu when he became a teacher. Having suffered from tuberculosis and undergone long-term medical treatment for a pneumothorax while a student at Hiroshima University, he was extremely happy to be able to leave his hospital bed and work.

▲Hiromu when he became a teacher. Having suffered from tuberculosis and undergone long-term medical treatment for a pneumothorax while a student at Hiroshima University, he was extremely happy to be able to leave his hospital bed and work.

At the limit of an exhausting night,
The river is polluted and the city terrified

At the top of the dome,
people give a command to people to offer a sacrifice,
and a fire roars

Lives crucified like tiny splinters of wood

That is why those souls that departed without a map,
when reunited with kindly disguised Hiroshima,
shyly stay where they are

An excerpt from “A Green Dome”
From a collection of poems “Faces of Hiroshima” by Hiromu Morishita

Inspired by the birth of his daughter: Hiromu shares his story for the sake of all children

▲Hiromu taught calligraphy at Hatsukaichi High School in Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima. As a hibakusha and a teacher, he also began peace education lessons, which he devoted himself to.

▲Hiromu’s calligraphy: “Although children like to run naked in summer, don’t let them take off their kimono — I see again the toddlers charred black.”

Hiromu had believed war would never happen again; however, the start of the Korean War in 1950 betrayed his faith. He wondered if nuclear weapons, which had had caused him so much pain, would be used again. Although anti-war activists urged him to lead protest actions because he had keloid scars, Hiromu firmly believed that keloids should not be used as a PR tactic.

After finding work as a calligraphy teacher at a prefectural high school, Hiromu was so occupied with daily tasks that he purposefully did not reflect on his past. In his 30s, he married and started a family — that’s when his thinking changed.

Hiromu felt a strong vitality and happiness at the sight of his daughter desperately clinging to his wife’s breast. At the same time, the sight of his daughter recalled for Hiromu the face of the charred infant he had seen in the burnt ruins after the atomic bombing.

“Such precious children must never face that cruel fate again,” Hiromu thought. Although he had avoided speaking about his experience of the atomic bombing, his daughter — her eyes not even open yet — encouraged Hiromu to begin sharing his testimony.

▲Hiromu’s wife, Hisako, and their three children.
Hiromu’s family was always his emotional rock.

▲Hiromu together with his second daughter and eldest son.

◀(Left)
Hiromu’s wife, Hisako, and their three children. Hiromu’s family was always his emotional rock.

(Right)
Hiromu together with his second daughter and eldest son.

Meeting Barbara Reynolds and beginning peace activism

▲Hiromu (right) with Barbara Reynolds (center) and Kaoru Ogura, a Hiroshima City official who served as Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation Executive Director and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Director prior to his death in 1979.

▲With a host family in Illinois, United States.

▲Before the departure of the Peace Pilgrimage: Hiromu’s wife, Tsuneko (right); his father and eldest daughter (center); Tsuneko’s mother (left).

Barbara Reynolds (1915-1990) first came to Hiroshima in 1951 as the wife of a member of an Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) staff member. She became deeply involved in peace activism after meeting hibakusha, and in 1965, she founded the peace organization World Friendship Center (WFC) in Hiroshima city. Even after returning to the U.S. in 1969, she busily continued her anti-war, anti-nuclear activities.

“She struck me as a kind woman when I first met her. But I was truly inspired when I saw the frugal life she lived, having spent her personal fortune to support her activities,” Hiromu said.

Hiromu served as WFC’s director for many years until 2012, out of respect for Barbara and as well as for Tomin Harada (1912-1999), the WFC’s first director and a surgeon who devoted himself to the treatment of hibakusha.

In the 1960s, around the time Hiromu decided to share his experience of the atomic bombing, events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) and China’s first nuclear tests (1964) heightened tensions over nuclear weapons. Amid these events, Hiromu learned that Barbara Reynolds had organized a World Peace Pilgrimage, and he participated for the first time. He traveled for 75 days with roughly a dozen hibakusha and an interpreter to eight countries, including the U.S., France, and the Soviet Union, to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Although the U.S. had deprived Hiromu of his mother and made him suffer as a hibakusha, he had no hesitation in visiting the U.S. He also learned that members of American NGOs and others were supporting his pilgrimage, and he felt no hatred. Curiosity, too, encouraged him on his journey.

“Forgive me, forgive me!”

I was in the U.S. on the Peace Pilgrimage, praying at a church after a peace conference.

An elderly American man came up to me, weeping, his large body shaking.

His feelings after hearing my testimony must have been unbearable.

There are people in the U.S., too, who weep at the cruelty of the atomic bombings and wish for an end to war.

Meeting former President Truman

▲Former U.S. President Harry S. Truman at the Truman Library, with the stage set as if for an interview. The Japanese delegation, including Hiromu and other hibakusha, watched with bated breath.

After the meeting with former President Truman, in the midst of all the excitement, Hiromu took his pen and recorded his impressions. He keeps the precious notes still today.

▲Hiromu after the meeting with former President Truman.

▲After the meeting with former President Truman, in the midst of all the excitement, Hiromu took his pen and recorded his impressions. He keeps the precious notes still today.

While staying in the U.S. in 1964, Barbara arranged for the Japanese delegation to meet with former U.S. President Harry S. Truman, the face of what the Japanese had referred to as “Western brutes” during World War II. Truman, the head of the Japanese delegation, and an interpreter spoke on stage, while Hiromu and the others watched from the audience.

“I don’t want that kind of thing to happen again,” Truman said, an ambiguous statement that could mean either the war or the atomic bombings. Hiromu later felt that Truman was implying that the atomic bombings were necessary to save the lives of many U.S. soldiers and end the war. The meeting lasted only three minutes. Truman closed by saying that international disputes should be resolved through the United Nations, which he had helped create.

Some said Truman should be commended for meeting with hibakusha, but from the hibakusha’s point of view, the meeting had been a letdown. Hiromu, too, expressed his disappointment in a contemporaneous memo.

“I wanted Truman to say that he was sorry for doing such a terrible thing. Did the young children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki not cross his mind when he made the decision to drop the bombs?” he recalled.

Hiromu in his 90s: Sharing his story as long as he lives

Speaking with Veterans of Foreign Wars in the U.S., Hiromu sometimes heard the same response that Truman had given: “We were in the right.” However, in other places, people understood that the atomic bombings had not hastened the end of the war. Hiromu felt it very significant that the hibakusha’s message was heeded not only in the A-bombed cities themselves but around the world, and that there were non-Japanese who sympathized with them.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on Hiromu’s work sharing his experience of the atomic bombing, he continued to give his testimony online. Now in his 90s, Hiromu’s physical fitness reflects his age; he has difficulty hearing and walking. However, his desire to share his story shows no sign of waning — for the sake of the children who perished in the cruel light and heat that summer; for Barbara, who devoted half her life to peace; and for today’s children, who don’t know the horrors of the atomic bombing. The tens of thousands of documents — memos, records, and clippings — kept in his home are the essence of hibakusha Hiroshi Morishita, who has wished for peace since Aug. 6, 1945.

▲One of Hiromu’s masterpieces as a calligrapher is an inscription for a stone monument, displayed at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The words are Pope John Paul II’s call for peace from his 1981 visit to Hiroshima. “As a hibakusha, I felt his support for anti-nuclear and anti-war activities,” Hiromu said. After being asked to contribute the inscription, Hiromu made numerous versions, perfecting it with great care.

▲In his home, Hiromu keeps an overwhelming volume of valuable documents related to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, nuclear weapons, peace, calligraphy, poetry, and literature.

▼In Hiromu’s study on the second floor of his house, from which he also shares his A-bomb testimony online.

“I, too, am a hibakusha.”

These words, engraved in the monument to Barbara Reynolds that stands quietly in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (Naka Ward, Hiroshima City), are Hiromu’s calligraphy. His pen name as a calligrapher is Seikaku Morishita. Even today, he continues to take up his brush from time to time.

“I, too, am a hibakusha.”

Edited and produced by ANT-Hiroshima

Photography by Mari Ishiko

Text by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mika Goto

Translation by Noa Seto and Annelise Giseburt

Translation edited by Annelise Giseburt

Nanao Kamada

Hiroshima: Faces

Nanao Kamada

I have worked with many hibakusha both in the examining room and in nursing homes.

The patients call me a teacher, but they teach me a lot.

I have worked with many hibakusha both in the examining room and in nursing homes.

The patients call me a teacher, but they teach me a lot.

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Nanao Kamada

Nanao Kamada

On March 20, 1937, Nanao Kamada was born as the seventh son of a family living in Mukden, Manchuria (now Shenyang, China). His father ran a electricity company, and the family was well-off, living in a Japanese village. His eldest brother, Masami, was expected to be a doctor, but he died from disease before graduating from the medical university of Manchuria (now China Medical University). Ever since he was young, Nanao felt he was expected to become a doctor by his parents, who grieved deeply for the loss of their eldest son.

In 1945, Nanao was eight years old and had entered elementary school. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, and the boy’s life changed completely. In order to protect the Japanese village, his father and brother had built a two-kilometer fence with electrical wires around the village. Their life was in a state of high alert. During that period, Nanao’s father passed away on May 6, 1946, due to aggravated tuberculosis. The family decided to return to Japan.

After a long voyage, on July 17, 1946, they arrived at the port of Senzaki, Nagato City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, then made their way to Kagoshima, from where the Kamada family originated. Nanao grew up with good spirits and motivation toward school and sports. People spoke Kagoshima dialect, which was unfamiliar to him at first. Then they moved to Tagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, where his third eldest brother, Saburo, had a job. Nanao entered the Prefectural East Tagawa High School (currently known as Fukuoka Prefectural Toyo High School). Wishing to become a doctor, he studied hard to enter Hiroshima University after reading about it in the magazine Keisetsu Jidai. Despite discouraging facts, such as the university being 7.2 times more competitive than others and his lack of funds, which prevented him from spending another year to prepare for the entrance exam, his brother, on behalf of their passed father, encouraged him to try. Nanao rallied his spirit and studied hard, and he passed the entrance exam. Then, his new life began.

From Manchuria to Kushu, overcoming the waves of time.

Nanao’s father, Masayoshi, was born in 1890 (Meiji Era), in Izaku village on the Satsuma Peninsula, currently known as Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture. He was the family’s second son, and therefore he did not inherit the land. Migration to Manchuria was a popular option at the time.

Masami, the eldest son of the Kamada family, died from disease in 1939 (Showa Era). Wishing to become a doctor, he studied at a medical university as expected by his father. His will was succeeded by Nanao.

After their father had passed away, Saburo, the third brother, took care of Nanao both physically and mentally. His mother, Some, took care so Nanao did not feel inferior due to the absence of his father. The photograph was taken after his mother’s second stroke in 1952 (Showa Era).

From his secure life in Manchuria, Nanao’s life changed dramatically after the war. Distressing memories such as betrayal from trusted acquaintances, Russian and Chinese soldiers lurking in the Japanese town, the death of his father, his family returning to Japan with his father’s remains but without any of their belongings… these memories were mixed with a sense of humiliation, frustration, sadness, and restlessness. Nanao, who later worked with many hibakusha as a doctor, said “My foundation to deal with people’s misery might have developed in my childhood.”

With support and his family’s expectations, Nanao went into medicine.

In 1998, Nanao gave a lecture at the medical university his eldest brother, Masami, had attended. On the occasion, all his remaining brothers gathered and visited the memorable places from their childhood (Photo: from left, Mutsuo, Nanao, Saburo, Itsuo).

This is the newsletter by which the Kamada brothers shared their situations.

His elder brothers, who used to share hardships and helped Nanao, were living in different prefectures. They proposed writing a “Brothers’ Newsletter” to keep in touch, which they continued for 44 years from 1961 to 2005. Nanao said, “I was too busy to write to them, and they often gave me an earful for it. They kept on writing, which now helps us to remember those days, and the newsletters became our treasure.” Nanao’s organizational skills, on display in his meticulous records for his studies, might have come from his brothers.

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Nanao Kamada

Nanao Kamada successfully entered the Hiroshima University School of Medicine in 1955, despite how competitive it was. He said “that accomplishment, after my late father’s as well as mother and brothers’ expectations, made me cry.” Ten years after the atomic bombing, his life in Hiroshima started. In those days, the city was still devastated, with a vacant main street (now Peace Boulevard) running from east to west and jam-packed with shacks along the river. The impact of the atomic bombing remained vividly. Nanao remembers seeing people with long sleeves in the middle of summer or wearing hats low over their eyes and guessed that they were hibakusha.

Although it was not easy for Nanao to fully support his student life with his small income from his brothers, part-time tutoring, and a scholarship, he spared no expense for medical textbooks. Beside studying hard, he joined the yacht club and practiced well. When he turned 23, in 1960, he won the championship in the two-seater snipe class at the first Miyajima yacht race. His connections in the yacht club later changed his future.

After graduating from university, Nanao interned for a year at Kyushu Kouseinenkin Hospital (now JCHO Kyushu Hospital) in Fukuoka in 1961. He was training to become a surgeon. “I though surgery suited my temper. In those days, however, we didn’t have surgical gloves, so before a surgery we used to rub our hands with scourer made of plant fibers, which caused dermatitis on my hands.” He gave up a career as a surgeon and was forced to reconsider his future, at which time an older member of the yacht club invited him to join the newly established Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine. A new department for internal medicine for radiation exposure was planned to open the next year. Nanao was moved by this unique project, the likes of which scarcely existed anywhere in world at the time.

In 1962, when he was 25 years old, he joined the clinical research team in the internal medicine for radiation exposure department. He met with the head of the department, Professor Masanobu Tomonaga, who had graduated from Nagasaki Medical University and who specialized in hematology. He also attended doctor Takashi Nagai, a well known researcher and essayist in Japan. Professor Tomonaga focused on the development of leukemia in hibakusha. In order to better understand the mechanism by which leukemia developed in hibakusha, and how it was different from standard leukemia, he directed Nanao to study chromosomes.

In the morning, Nanao attended incoming patients at the internal medicine for radiation exposure department, and in the afternoon, the hospitalized patients. He worked on his research until midnight. His efforts together with his colleagues bore fruit. They found in the hibakusha’s blood the Philadelphia chromosome, which is found in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. In November 1962, they published a paper titled “Case of early detected Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.” Seventeen years after the atomic bombing, Nanao’s life “walking together with hibakusha” began.

August 6, 1945, 8:15

An eight year-old boy survived the blast within 500 meters of the hypocenter because he happened to be in the basement of his elementary school.

He lost his parents and siblings due to the atomic bomb, and he ended up in an orphanage after being rejected by his relatives.

As an adult, he got married and achieved happiness.
However, he suffered from gastric cancer and underwent surgery twice.
His first grandson died of leukemia.
To avoid hurting his feelings, his son kept the cause of his grandson’s death hidden from him.

Later, he suffered from radiation-induced interstitial pneumonia, which caused difficulty breathing.

Twenty-one percent of his chromosomes were abnormal.

A little over sixty years after being exposed to the atomic bomb, in early winter, he committed suicide.

Nuclear weapons abuse survivors throughout their lives, physically, socially, and psychologically.

The above statement describes one of the hibakusha exposed to the atomic bomb near the hypocenter who Dr. Nanao had kept in touch with. Those who miraculously survived the explosion at close range, which could kill one instantly, greatly suffered from aftereffects on their body, mind, and life.
During Nanao’s 70 years of research, 66 of his subjects passed away.

“Approximately 50% of the deceased were suffering from cancer. The DNA of their stem cells of each organ were instantly injured by the radiation, which then caused cancer after many years. Each organ has different susceptibility to radiation, so cancer can develop at different times, which is why, instead of metastasis, we experience a second or third cancer in one body.” Nuclear weapons injure human DNA and continue to harm survivors throughout their lives. How many people are aware of this?

August 6, 1945, 8:15

An eight year-old boy survived the blast within 500 meters of the hypocenter because he happened to be in the basement of his elementary school.

He lost his parents and siblings due to the atomic bomb, and he ended up in an orphanage after being rejected by his relatives.

As an adult, he got married and achieved happiness.
However, he suffered from gastric cancer and underwent surgery twice.
His first grandson died of leukemia.
To avoid hurting his feelings, his son kept the cause of his grandson’s death hidden from him.

Nuclear weapons abuse survivors throughout their lives, physically, socially, and psychologically.

His life as a researcher

1967 (29 year-old)	Studied at California University (Photo 1.)
1970 (33 year-old)	Submitted the thesis “The effect of radiation on chromosomes of bone marrow cells” to University of Nagasaki, which earned him his PhD.
1972 (35 year-old)	Conducted a survey on surviving hibakusha within 500m from the atomic bomb’s hypocenter in the research project “Nuclear Medicine Research.”

(Photo 1) He pursued his training as a researcher in the division of clinical pathology, San Francisco Medical Centre.

1978 (41 year-old)	Presented his work in the International Society of Hematology, which was introduced in the textbook “Wintrobe’s Clinical Hematology”.
1982 (45 year-old)	Hiroshima Doctors Association awarded him the “Hiroshima Medical Prize” for the series of work he presented to the research group on the after-effects of the atomic bomb.
1985 (48 year-old)	He was appointed as a professor of hematology, research division, in the Nuclear Medicine Research Institute of Hiroshima University. (Photo 2.)
1988 (51 year-old)	He was appointed as the director of IPPNW’s Japan division.
1991	Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed (HICARE) was established.
1997～99 (60～62 year-old)	He was appointed as the chairman of HICARE.
2000 (63 year-old)	He visited Tokai village, Ibaraki Prefecture, to study a criticality radiation exposure accident that had occurred there, and to support local people. (Photo 3.) He retired from the Nuclear Medicine Research Institute of Hiroshima University.

1967 (29 year-old)	Studied at California University (Photo 1.)
1970 (33 year-old)	Submitted the thesis “The effect of radiation on chromosomes of bone marrow cells” to University of Nagasaki, which earned him his PhD.
1972 (35 year-old)	Conducted a survey on surviving hibakusha within 500m from the atomic bomb’s hypocenter in the research project “Nuclear Medicine Research.”

1978 (41 year-old)	Presented his work in the International Society of Hematology, which was introduced in the textbook “Wintrobe’s Clinical Hematology”.
1982 (45 year-old)	Hiroshima Doctors Association awarded him the “Hiroshima Medical Prize” for the series of work he presented to the research group on the after-effects of the atomic bomb.
1985 (48 year-old)	He was appointed as a professor of hematology, research division, in the Nuclear Medicine Research Institute of Hiroshima University. (Photo 2.)
1988 (51 year-old)	He was appointed as the director of IPPNW’s Japan division.
1991	Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed (HICARE) was established.
1997～99 (60～62 year-old)	He was appointed as the chairman of HICARE.
2000 (63 year-old)	He visited Tokai village, Ibaraki Prefecture, to study a criticality radiation exposure accident that had occurred there, and to support local people. (Photo 3.) He retired from the Nuclear Medicine Research Institute of Hiroshima University.

(Photo 1) He pursued his training as a researcher in the division of clinical pathology, San Francisco Medical Centre.

(Photo 2) On his appointment as a professor (middle, in the front row).

(Photo 2) On his appointment as a professor (middle, in the front row).

(Photo 3) As one of the medical staff, he visited Tokai village, Ibaraki Prefecture, to study a JCO criticality radiation exposure accident.

His life work “Clinical research on hibakusha exposed within 500 meters of the hypocenter”

According to the survey conducted by the Nuclear Medicine Research, Hiroshima city, and Japan’s public broadcaster (NHK; Nihon Hoso Kyokai), seventy-eight people survived within 500 meters of the hypocenter. Nanao conducted follow-up surveys on them with periodic health checks. With serum and cellular study, the percentage of chromosome abnormality was used to estimate the survivors’ radiation dose, together with humoral and cellular abnormalities that could be caused by radiation. He emphasized the importance of face-to-face interviews with hibakusha, especially their ordinary chat and complaints, in which he picked up on some clues regarding their medical condition. He reported “Several people complained about headaches, which were revealed to be caused by meningiomas. After follow-up surveys, the morbidity for meningioma was revealed to be high among those survivors within 1 kilometer of the hypocenter”.

A public lecture held in 2017.

Findings from the follow-up survey on hibakusha within close range.

Broken family bonds, inability to form a family (high rate of unpartnered, divorced, or old and lonely) (1975)
Chromosomal abnormalities (Carcinogenic changes) (1975)
Oncogenic changes in hibakusha, who are otherwise healthy (1990)
The rate of double or triple cancers (2004)
Incremental anxiety with aging (2006)
Atomic bomb creates “life-long abuse“ of survivors (2018)

※(published year)

Nanao said “We revealed much new evidence that will contribute to medicine in general. All thanks to hibakusha who demonstrated everything with their own bodies.” To thank and show respect to those hibakusha who stood with him for many years though medical examinations, including painful bone-marrow aspiration, skin biopsy and repeated blood sampling, he continued periodical health-checks and conversations using his own time and money, even after he retired from Hiroshima University. Sending souvenirs, using telephone and email, he continued to care for them.

◀Nanao talks while putting himself at the same eye level, and tries to listen without interruption, an attitude that shows respect. Nanao meets them as a person, not just as a doctor.

Nanao talks while putting himself at the same eye level, and tries to listen without interruption, an attitude that shows respect. Nanao meets them as a person, not just as a doctor.

I used to believe that
to study the effect of radiation on the human body,
we ought to examine those who were exposed to it at close range or with a high dose.

But, those at the nursing home for atomic bomb survivors changed my mind with their
various experiences of exposure.

I used to believe that
to study the effect of radiation on the human body,
we ought to examine those who were exposed to it at close range or with a high dose.

But, those at the nursing home for atomic bomb survivors changed my mind with their
various experiences of exposure.

Story.3
Nanao Kamada

After 38 years working as a physician researcher, Nanao retired from Hiroshima University and made his way to a city hospital in 2000, then became the director of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Foundation and a principal of the Kurakake Nozomi Nursing Home. His salary decreased, but it did not sway him. Nanao said, “As long as it was for hibakusha, who I worked for did not matter to me.”

He disciplined himself “to level himself with the hibakusha’s eyes, to be fair and honest,” and refused to sit behind a desk. To communicate more with the nursing home residents and staff, as well as to be aware of small changes and problems, he walked around the facility and refused to stay in his room. To increase recreation time for residents, he organized 25 new events in a year. As an increasing number of residents were bedridden because of age, he had televisions installed in each room to enable them to see the events happening in the main room, which let them join in conservations with other residents.

Nanao was able to remember all 194 of his coworkers’ names and faces. “It became a matter of course for me to pay attention to my coworkers, who in turn enrich the living environment for the hibakusha.” He did not hesitate to work extra to improve the competency and motivation of his coworkers. He invited them for lectures and taught them many times how radiation affects our health. The facility was recognized by the city as an educational unit for the training of gastric fistula and suctioning, which yielded many certified professionals. He also incorporated the idea of terminal-care, and the facility worked hard for the care of elderly hibakusha to spend their final days in dignity. In the annual celebration, he praised those who obtained new certifications, and gave them commemorative photo albums that he had made. He did not forget the humor to sing and dance with his coworkers.

Nanao also proactively participated in social activities and academic meetings. The residents’ stories of their varied experiences of the atomic bombing helped Nanao’s research on indirect exposure, such as of those who entered the city after the bombing, those who suffered from internal radiation, and following generations.

During the 16 years he spent working at the nursing home, every day he woke up at 5:30 AM, worked from 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM, and went to bed at 11:30 PM. As a leader of the Atomic Bomb Nursing Home, as well as a researcher, he aimed high and worked to his limit. He remarked, “It was a fulfilling time, comparable to the time I devoted to research in the university.” His enthusiasm is boundless.

Story.3
Nanao Kamada

To tell the truth of Hiroshima to as many people as possible

2001 (64 year-old)	Nanao was appointed as the head director of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Foundation, and as a principal of Kurakake Nozomi Nursing Home (Photo 1)
2001 (65 year-old)	He was awarded the Nagai Takashi Peace Memorial・Nagasaki Prize (Photo 2)
2005 (68 year-old)	Published “One day in Hiroshima: An Oral History” (Photo 3)
2006 (69 year-old)	Presented “Leukemia of those who entered the city after the explosion” at a research group of the after-effect of atomic bomb.
2007 (70 year-old)	Presented in a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symposium in Italy.
2008 (71 year-old)	Presented in a world conference (India) of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).
2011	The Great East Japan Earthquake
	Visited Fukushima Prefecture and took part in radiation research (Photo 4).
2012 (75 year-old)	Presented on “the internal radiation exposure in Fukushima,” also presented at an IPPNW Japan conference.
2015 (78 year-old)	Organized the World Forum of Nuclear Survivors (Hiroshima) and supervised the reports. (Photo 5)
2016 (79 year-old)	Presented “The internal exposure proved by lung cancer histology”
2017 (80 year-old)	Retired from Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Foundation and from Kurakake Nozomi Nursing Home. Appointed as a visiting professor at Hiroshima University. Appointed as the head of Health-check center at Hongo Central Hospital.
2018 (81 year-old)	Retired from the above hospital after the 2018 heavy rain disaster. Works at the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Casualty Council (health check and improvement center) part-time.

▲(Photo 1) In those days, Nozomi Nursing Home had the largest capacity in west Japan, which attracted various people to visit, including school students for peace study, medical residents, nursing care trainees, nobles and the prime minister at the time. The workplace was sometimes nerve wracking, but it encouraged him to emphasize the happiness of the users and fulfillment of his coworkers over anything.

▼(Photo 2) Takashi Nagai, PhD, was a patient who Professor Tomonaga (Nanao’s best teacher) took care of till the end. Thus, for him, this prize came with deep emotions.

▶(Photo 3) Nanao assembled the notes he wrote for staff training at the Nozomi Nursing Home and published them in a book as a peace education material and funded the process himself. He promised to donate the profits to the Relief Foundation and did so accordingly. He had the book translated into English, French, German, and Spanish, and uploaded it to the IPPNW Boston website, available to read and download for free.

▼(Photo 3) Nanao assembled the notes he wrote for staff training at the Nozomi Nursing Home and published them in a book as a peace education material and funded the process himself. He promised to donate the profits to the Relief Foundation and did so accordingly. He had the book translated into English, French, German, and Spanish, and uploaded it to the IPPNW Boston website, available to read and download for free.

▼(Photo 4) With Dr. Osamu Saito, one of the former members of the Research Institute for Nuclear Medicine and Biology who lived in Fukushima, Nanao conducted independent research. He collected urine samples from people in Iidate Village and Kawamata Town and surveyed their activity for two months. Based on this data, he published (2012) estimated individual radiation doses.

(Photo 5) Organized the World Forum of Nuclear Survivors (2015, Hiroshima)

Academic reports
(year of publication in parentheses)

Research findings on those directly exposed to radiation

The chromosomal abnormality continued to remain in bone marrow of radiation survivors, which can be the basis of leukemia (1969)
It was possible to estimate the radiation dose according to the chromosomal abnormalities.
Those with high doses of radiation but otherwise healthy had a humoral factor that can cause the chromosomal abnormality in others (1978).
Half lethal dose of radiation (the dosage at which half of those exposed will die within 30 days) was between 3.5 to 4 Sv (1989).
The DNA of radiation survivors, who are otherwise healthy, contained oncogenic (RAS) changes (1988).
Increased risk of breast cancer (1989) and brain tumor (1997) in those who were exposed during puberty.

Alongside the epidemiological works listed above, Nanao also worked in a hematology laboratory and discovered the developmental stages of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (1978), the (8; 21) translocation in acute leukemia (1968 and 1976) and the genetic sequence of four translocation types of leukemia.

Research findings on those indirectly exposed to radiation, who entered Hiroshima city after the atomic bombing

One hundred and thirteen patients with leukemia, who developed the condition between 1970 to 1990, due to entering Hiroshima city after the atomic bombing, were analyzed. He discovered that survivors who entered the city on the 6^th and 7^th of August had especially high rates of developing leukemia (published in 2006).

Research findings on second-generation survivors

Nanao analyzed second-generation survivors using the Research Institute for Nuclear Medicine and Biology’s database and identified 119,311 people. He estimated the number of such people living in Hiroshima Prefecture to be 130,000 to 135,000, and further identified 94 leukemia patients. He discovered that if both parents were exposed to radiation, then the incidence of leukemia was higher compared to when only one of parent was exposed (2012). In addition, he found that second-generation survivors were more likely to develop leukemia if they were born within 10 years after their parents were exposed to radiation (2014).

Research findings on internal exposure to radiation

Nanao reported cases of multiple cancers in lung, stomach, colon, and blood that were developed 50 years after exposure, in which the patients not externally exposed to radiation but who were drinking water and eating vegetables polluted with “black rain” (2008). He showed proof of the radiation tracts in the lung cancer tissue, which were believed to be originated from decaying Uranium, using emulsion sensitization (2016).

There are only two cities in the world on which an atomic bomb was dropped.

There is only one country in the world on which atomic bombs were dropped.

Those who experienced the inhumane destruction of nuclear weapons exist right here, living next to us.

We must think what we can do, what only we can do, and what we must do.

And we must act.

There are only two cities in the world on which an atomic bomb was dropped.

There is only one country in the world on which atomic bombs were dropped.

Those who experienced the inhumane destruction of nuclear weapons exist right here, living next to us.

We must think what we can do, what only we can do, and what we must do.

And we must act.

Edited and produced by ANT-Hiroshima

Photography by Mari Ishiko

Text by Mika Goto

Translation by Shusei Fukuyama

Translation edited by Annelise Giseburt

Keiko Shimizu

Hiroshima: Faces

Keiko Shimizu

I do not have an Atomic Bomb Survivor’s Certificate.

But my eyes,
my lungs,
my blood,

Every single part of me
is constantly reminding me:

“You are a hibakusha.”

I do not have an Atomic Bomb Survivor’s Certificate.

But my eyes,
my lungs,
my blood,

Every single part of me
is constantly reminding me:

“You are a hibakusha.”

Story.1
Keiko Shimizu

Keiko Shimizu (née Akimoto)

Born December 23, 1943, in Kirinoki Town (present day Minami Ward), Hiroshima City. In March 1945, Keiko was evacuated to a relative’s house in Zouka Village (present day Higashi-Hiroshima City). Her father was away fighting in the war, and her mother was pregnant.

On August 6, 1945, her mother was hanging out the laundry with Keiko, who was one year and seven months old at the time, strapped to her back. At 8:15 a.m., her mother felt a kind of heavy pressure in the air — unlike anything she had ever felt before — weighing down on her. She instinctively covered both her and her daughter’s heads with the laundry and got down onto her stomach on the ground. It was not until later that she would learn that the strange sensation had been caused by the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima City.

The next day, many people who had been exposed to the atomic bomb in Hiroshima fled back to their village. The villagers all worked together to care for the survivors, and Keiko’s heavily pregnant mother worked among them. However, her mother soon began to complain that she was feeling unwell and became unable to care for Keiko, who was still very young. It was decided that Keiko would be taken to relatives in Kumano (Kumano Town, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture), and her grandfather took her out and visited the area around Hiroshima Station. In the end, she was not able to stay in Kumano because many of her other relatives had also moved there, but she was exposed to the radiation when she entered the city during that visit.

Around the age of two, her eyesight began to deteriorate, and she developed a squint. In the spring of 1956, they moved to a house in Danbara (Minami Ward, Hiroshima City) that belonged to her grandfather, where she lived together with her relatives as one big family.

Later, she suffered from bleeding of the gums and was unable to eat. Around the time that she entered elementary school, she had also developed pulmonary tuberculosis and pleurisy, which meant she was sometimes absent from school for long periods of time. It was not uncommon for her to have nosebleeds, diarrhea, and convulsions. The same was also true for her younger brother, Takeshi.

A family photograph

A family visit to Miyajima during her childhood. Keiko is front right.

Keiko’s mother was engaged in relief work for hibakusha in Zouka Village, where the family had been evacuated to.

She was pregnant with Keiko’s younger brother at the time. As a young child, Keiko entered Hiroshima City in the days after the bomb was dropped.

Although the three of them do not hold Atomic Bomb Survivor Certificates, they still suffered in their own ways. Who could imagine that her sweetly smiling younger brother would die at the young age of 33?

With her parents and younger brother. Keiko is far left. Taken in 1954. Although she was sick and frail, her childhood was surrounded by love from her family.

A childhood that nurtured sensitivity

Taken at a photo studio on December 23, 1955, 10 years after the war ended, on her 12^th birthday. At the time, Keiko attended operetta practice every week.

Keiko loved to sing and excelled in music class, so her third grade homeroom teacher invited her to participate in a children’s theatre company. It was these childhood experiences that would later introduce Keiko to the world of professional recitation.

With the performers of the children’s operetta.

January 28, 1956.
It was a cold winter’s afternoon.

The children of Hiroshima City
Gathered at Noboricho Junior High School.*

“Let’s make a monument for the children of the atomic bomb!”
Beyond individual schools and grade levels,
We were united as one.

Sadako’s* death,
10 years after the bombing
Had affected
All of us

Story.2
Keiko Shimizu

Keiko’s life changed when she met Shizuko Ogata, her fifth- and sixth-grade homeroom teacher at Danbara Elementary School. As Keiko and a friend were working on their graduation essays, Ms. Ogata approached them and said, “I would like the two of you to go to an important meeting, a discussion group of students from various schools.”

The meeting was held at Noboricho Junior High School on January 28, 1956, a cold afternoon with a sprinkling of snow. The meeting was attended by members of student councils from almost every elementary school, junior high school, and high school in Hiroshima City. They gathered to hear the story of the death of a young girl who had died of leukemia 10 years after the bombing. At the meeting, a classmate of Sadako Sasaki* appealed for their cooperation to erect a statue, the Children’s Peace Monument. With the full support of all in attendance, the Hiroshima Peace-Building Children and Students Association was formed. Since then, Keiko and her friends have been members of the association and have been involved in fundraising and various other activities.

Thanks to the efforts of many children and the support of adults behind the scenes, the Children’s Peace Monumentwas completed. On May 5, 1958 — Children’s Day — Keiko, then 15 years old and a third-year student at Danbara Junior High School, attended the unveiling ceremony.

In memory of a beloved teacher,
Ms. Shizuko Ogata

At a time when the war was raging and most teachers were being sent off to war, 18-year-old Ms. Ogata, who had just graduated from school herself, was working at Hiroshima City Hirose National School* as a substitute teacher. It was there at the school, about 1.2 km from the hypocentre, that she was exposed to the atomic bomb and suffered burns and injuries to most of her body.

She was later transferred to Danbara Elementary School, where she became Keiko’s fifth- and sixth-grade homeroom teacher.

“She often took us to the Peace Memorial Museum, even though she was suffering from aftereffects of the bombing herself. My fondness for her still lives on in me, even today,” Keiko said. Ms. Ogata died of pancreatic cancer in 1971, at the young age of 44.

The Children’s Peace Monument
– Born out of the strength of children

The Hiroshima Peace-Building Children and Students Association has been involved in a wide range of activities, including fundraising for the Children’s Peace Monument; writing thank-you letters to donors; visiting A-Bomb survivors; visiting facilities for orphans and children with disabilities and offering their support; conducting surveys of children hibakusha; and holding peace study groups and discussions.

“We received donations and letters from abroad, including from countries like England and Hungary. We used a corner of the library at Noboricho Junior High School as our office and wrote thank you letters to them. What started as the actions taken by a group of children in Hiroshima has now spread throughout Japan and around the world,” Keiko said.

The children’s activities were also depicted in the film, Senbazuru (1958, directed by Sotoji Kimura, Kyodo Eigasha).

May 5, 1958. The unveiling ceremony for the Children’s Peace Monument.
Keiko is among the crowd.
Courtesy of the Chugoku Shinbun.

Story.3
Keiko Shimizu

In 1964, Keiko graduated from Hiroshima Prefectural Women’s Junior College with a degree in Japanese literature. She began working for the Hiroshima Prefectural Government in 1966 and retired when she married in 1969. She spent her 20s happily but developed a spinal cord disease. She was hospitalised and underwent surgery. Since then, she has been in relatively good health, despite the occasional health issue.

From 1996 until 1998, Keiko worked as a Peace Guide at the World Friendship Center. Since 1999, she has been a member of the English recitation group Oleander. After turning 60, she contracted an incurable blood disease and developed lung cancer. She was again hospitalised and underwent repeated surgeries.

Keiko’s mother contracted uterine tuberculosis three years after the war and would go on to develop cancer of the rectum, stomach, and liver in her late 60s. She died at the age of 87. It is possible that her mother was exposed to radiation while she tended to the victims.

Her younger brother, Takeshi, like Keiko, suffered from several illnesses. He died at the age of 33, and an autopsy conducted after his death found that he had suffered from acute leukemia. Their mother was still pregnant with him when she was tending victims. Is it possible that there is a connection between in-utero exposure and his untimely death?

After the war, Keiko’s father, having seen his relatives suffer from discrimination for being hibakusha, decided not to apply for Atomic Bomb Survivor Certificates for his wife and two children. “I, my mother, and my younger brother all suffered from many illnesses, so there are times where I do think that it would have been easier if we’d had the certificate,” she said.

In 2004, Keiko began volunteering as an orator at the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. From 2013 until 2015, she volunteered as a Peace Education Instructor at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Since 2017, she has been the chairperson of the recitation theatre group PILE.

Despite her illnesses, Keiko continues her humble peace activities with a cultural approach.

Story.3
Keiko Shimizu

From 1996 until 1998, Keiko worked as a Peace Guide at the World Friendship Centre. Since 1999, she has been a member of the English recitation group Oleander. After turning 60, she contracted an incurable blood disease and developed lung cancer. She was again hospitalised and underwent repeated surgeries.

Despite her illnesses, Keiko continues her humble peace activities with a cultural approach.

Amidst the horrors of the atomic bombing
The Children’s Peace Memorial was created
Through the strength of the children who survived

Hiroshima became burnt-out ruins
But was reborn as a green city
Through the strength of the citizens who survived

We are small
But we are not powerless

Peace is ours to create

Speak up and take action
Find that ‘something’ that you can do

Edited and produced by ANT-Hiroshima

Photography by Mari Ishiko

Text by Mika Goto

Translation by Eliza Nicoll

Translation edited by Annelise Giseburt

Toshiko Tanaka

Hiroshima: Faces

Toshiko Tanaka

Through the broken ceiling
and the roof,
I saw the blue sky.

“Oh, how beautiful,” I thought.

I was six
and I knew nothing about
atomic bombs,
radiation,
and mushroom clouds.

Burned and crying,
I gazed up at the blue sky.

Profile
Toshiko Tanaka

Toshiko Tanaka
(former name: Katsuko Hara)

On October 18, 1938, Toshiko was born in Kako Town, Hiroshima City (today’s Nakajima Town, Naka Ward, about 1 km from the hypocenter). Her family members included her father, mother, two younger sisters — one, two years younger; the other, six years younger — and a brother born after World War II.

Her parents ran an inn for soldiers. These visitors helped take good care of her, and she grew up in good health.

After completing Mutoku Kindergarten in March 1945, Toshiko was evacuated to a relative’s house and enrolled at Yoshida Elementary School in the Takata district. Her parents, however, were worried about their little girl and brought her back home in May, then enrolled her in Nakajima Elementary School. In the summer of 1945, the Japanese military ordered her family to move out of the area. One week before the atomic bombing, they moved to Ushita, Minami Ward (today’s Ushita Waseda, Higashi Ward, about 2.3 km from the hypocenter), and she transferred to Ushita Elementary School.

On the morning on August 6, 1945, as six-year-old Toshiko was waiting for her friend under a cherry tree to go to school together, the atomic bomb exploded in the sky above the city. Though burned by the blast, she managed to make it home. That night, she had a high fever and lost consciousness. Later, at the age of 12, she was told by a doctor that her white blood cell count was abnormal.

She also developed canker sores, one after another. Her throat became swollen, and she could barely swallow any food. She suffered from extreme fatigue and feared that she would die.

In her second year at Noboricho Junior High School, her teacher urged her to run for student council president, but she had little time outside of helping her mother with work mending clothes and delivering these clothes to customers on her father’s bicycle. Despite her busy days, she wanted a way to express herself, so she became the president of the school’s newspaper club. She then devoted herself to the club’s activities. After graduating from junior high, she decided to pursue illustration and design, things she had been interested in since she was little. She took evening classes at Kokutaiji High School for four years, while also working, and saved money to go to Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo to study design and become a designer.

After earning her college degree, she returned to Hiroshima. In 1964, at the age of 25, she got married and had two children. At the suggestion of her mother-in-law, she changed her name from Katsuko to Toshiko and started taking enameling lessons. Enameling wasn’t something she had considered doing until then.

She studied under the enamelist Keiichi Saito for six years and immersed herself in the world of enameling. Her works began to gain recognition from the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition and the Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition, and she became a regular member of each. Keeping her ambitions high, she also studied at Tokyo University of the Arts and at an art school in New York for a short time.

In 1981, one of her pieces was presented to Pope John Paul II by the mayor of the City of Hiroshima.

During the period from 2007 to 2017, she traveled around the world on Peace Boat four times, sharing her experiences of the atomic bombing.

In 2016, she remodeled part of her house and established the “Peace Exchange Space.”

Now a freelance artist, the theme of her enamel works is “the connection between human beings and nature in the universe.” As an A-bomb survivor, she has been dedicated to relating her account of the atomic bombing. She has been involved in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Hibakusha Stories (a New York-based NPO working to pass on the legacy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the next generation), and the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo).

Childhood

This family photo was taken before her father (left) went off to war. Toshiko (held by her mother in the center) was the family’s first daughter and was raised with love.

Toshiko at nine months old

Toshiko at two years old

Toshiko’s parents ran an inn for soldiers in Kako Town, Hiroshima City (today’s Nakajima Town, Naka Ward, Hiroshima City). Soldiers drafted from all over Japan stayed at the inn before departing for the war from Ujina Port. “Their family members were back at home,” she said, “and they took really good care of me, like I was their child or a member of their family.” Toshiko was a curious child, scolded for watching martial arts practice in the neighborhood late at night and hunting for clams by the river. Though life during the war was hard, she sought enjoyment in small, everyday things. However, in the summer of 1945, the Japanese military decided to demolish the area where Toshiko’s family lived, and they were ordered to move. Just one week before the atomic bombing, the family moved to Ushita, Minami Ward (today’s Ushita, Higashi Ward). What if they had continued living in the area where they had been, which is within a 1 km-radius of the hypocenter? Their destiny was determined by chance.

Six-year-old Toshiko in the summer, after surviving the atomic bomb

On the morning on August 6, 1945, Toshiko was waiting for her friend under a cherry tree so they could walk to school together. Then someone shouted ”Enemy plane!” and she looked up at the sky. At that instant, there was a flash of white light. The atomic bomb was dropped at 8:15 a.m. When the bomb exploded, Toshiko immediately tried to protect her face, but her head, her neck, and her right arm still suffered burns.

She managed to walk home, yet she had no idea what had just happened. When Toshiko’s mother saw her — with her hair burnt and frizzy, her face and arm charred black, and her clothes in tatters — she couldn’t even recognize her own daughter. Toshiko was crying from the pain and fear she felt. At one point she looked up and saw the blue sky through the broken roof. “It was so beautiful,” she said. “It made me feel that this wasn’t the end and there would still be a tomorrow.” She still clearly remembers that blue sky.

The blisters from her burns were very painful. That night, she had a high fever and lost consciousness. A few days later, when she came to, the air was filled with the smell of dead bodies being cremated.

Graduation photo at Mutoku Kindergarten, taken in March 1945. The school was located where Peace Memorial Museum now stands. The atomic bomb was dropped five months after this photo was taken. Toshiko’s heart still aches for the friends who may have lost their lives in the explosion.

Toshiko at the age of eight. The radiation released by the atomic bomb threatened the health of her small body. When she was 12, she suffered from extreme fatigue each day and was told by her doctor that her white blood cell count was abnormal. “My friends died one after another, even though they had suffered no burns,” she said. “Back then it was believed that people within a 2 km-radius of the hypocenter would be affected by the radiation. I was in Ushita, which was 2.3 km away, a difference of 300 meters. People would say that the bomb had nothing to do with my symptoms.”

I never imagined that I would start enameling.

Sometimes in life, things unfold in an unexpected way.

What is important is
working hard on what is in front of you
and continuing to ponder
your dreams, goals, and mission.

You will eventually arrive at where you want to go
even if the form of that destination is different.

I believe that.

Younger years, studied cutting-edge design in Tokyo

Toshiko in her third year of junior high school

A completion ceremony was held every year at the end of a term. Junko Koshino, Kenzo Takada, and Issey Miyake were students at the same school.

Toshiko (left) took a year off from her studies at Bunka Fashion College to stay in Taiwan as a campaign model of a pharmaceutical company for four months and travel around the region. After the campaign concluded, she visited Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. Although, at the time, it was difficult for average people to go abroad, she traveled around Asia by herself with her curious, active nature.

Life after the war was never easy. She took evening classes at a high school for four years while working, and saved money to go to Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, where she studied design. She was asked by a renowned designer to become an apprentice, but she had nearly run out of her savings and decided to go back to Hiroshima. In 1964, at the age of 25, she agreed to an arranged marriage in Hiroshima.

She had two children and became a stay-at-home mother. Parenting kept her busy. Then, one day, her mother-in-law suggested that she take enameling lessons. At first, she wasn’t serious about this interest, but meeting the enamelist Keiichi Sato showed her the possibilities of enameling. She then immersed herself in the world of enameling and creating works of art. Keiichi Saito, Toshiko’s teacher, valued traditional crafts and viewed her as too audacious in her works. Still, she came to be recognized in the field and received a series of awards.

Decades later, a large package was delivered to her. “Inside were Mr. Saito’s tools and a letter,” she said. “He had written to me, ‘You were my finest student.’ He praised me as an enamelist. That was a few months before he died.”

Returning home, becoming immersed in the world of enameling

Toshiko began to stand out as an enamelist. Her works were accepted annually for the Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition starting in 1978 and first accepted for the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition in 1979, for a total of 16 acceptances. In 1981, when Pope John Paul II was making his first visit to Hiroshima, one of her works was presented to him by the mayor of Hiroshima. In the same year, she received a request from Kazu Sueishi from the American Society of Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors. “We want to invite doctors from Hiroshima so that A-bomb survivors living in the U.S. can obtain a survivor’s health card, but we don’t have enough funds. May we ask for your help?”

Toshiko, with the help of the director of the City of Hiroshima’s division for international exchange, decided to hold a Japan-U.S. exchange enamel exhibition at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center located in Los Angeles. Representing enamelists, she called for works from all over Japan. She also exhibited her own works. The event was held for two weeks, and she donated all the proceeds from sales to the American Society of Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors. Her activities as an enamelist naturally led to her efforts to promote peace.

Keiichi Saito (second from the right), an enamelist and Toshiko’s teacher

Toshiko (third from the right) at the Japan-U.S. Exchange Enamel Exhibition held in the U.S. in 1981. “We brought 200 copies of the English version of ‘Barefoot Gen’ (a manga series based on the experiences of Keiji Nakazawa, an A-bomb survivor) and 400 other A-bomb-related books and donated them to the American Society of Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors, and then the members of the organization gave the books to libraries.”

Toshiko was featured in the April 1994 issue of “Glass on Metal,” a U.S. magazine dedicated to enameling.

What is enameling?
Enameling is a process by which powdered glass is fused onto metal. While it is generally applied to accessories, Toshiko invented her own style of combining enameling and stainless steel into large mural works. Ever since then, she has introduced novel enamel works to the world.

On the boundless ocean
I felt that the world is interconnected.

Seen from the universe, the earth looks like a small boat.
We all are the crew of one boat.

Conflicts definitely impact us all.

That is why
we must not produce,
possess,
or use nuclear weapons.
We must eliminate them.

As an A-bomb survivor, that is my sincere wish.

Took Peace Boat voyages around the world, started telling her story at 70

Her efforts to speak out began with a Peace Boat voyage and an encounter in Venezuela. Once she opened up, she could not help but share what had been in her mind for a long time.

In 2005, Toshiko lost her husband, who had been her strongest supporter, and this left her with a deep sense of loss. One day in 2007, a newspaper advertisement caught her eye. It was an advertisement for Peace Boat, a Japan-based NGO offering voyages around the world and working to connect participants with people around the world. Thinking she would enjoy traveling, she immediately decided to apply for one of their voyages.

During this voyage, the boat docked at Guadalcanal and Rabaul, places where the soldiers who had spent their last night in Japan at the inn run by Toshiko’s parents lost their lives. The crew held a memorial service for the soldiers and Toshiko mourned them, recalling how they had taken good care of her.

At the time, she felt reluctant to talk about her experiences of the atomic bombing like other survivors did. In 2008, a turning point arrived when she visited Venezuela. A mayor in Venezuela said, “A-bomb survivors have an obligation to speak about what happened.” These words changed her. At the age of 70, Toshiko delivered her testimony of the atomic bombing for the first time. She did this from Venezuela, through a Latin American satellite broadcasting network called teleSUR. Starting with that time in Venezuela, she has since traveled to more than 80 countries and related her experiences to a wide range of people, including students, scientists, and scholars.

Peace begins with one encounter

In May of 2010, several hundred A-bomb survivors flew to the U.S. for the Review Conference of Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. After the conference, some of the survivors stayed and gave their testimonies at 25 local junior high and high schools. Toshiko had been invited to New York as a member of Hibakusha Stories. She visited a high school in Queens, where many immigrants resided.

Among the students was a boy who was originally from Palestine. He had had a difficult childhood, with family members who were killed by Israeli troops. Even after moving to the U.S., he shut his mind and continued to harbor hatred for Israel. Toshiko told him, “There must be forgiveness in order to cut the chain of hatred.” After hearing her words, the boy became more open to other perspectives. He changed, mentally, to such an extent that it surprised his teacher.

The story of Toshiko and the boy is featured in the book Yononaka e no tobira: Kiseki wa tsubasa ni notte (Doors to the World: Miracles on Wings) written by Kazuko Minamoto and published by Kodansha.

“How can you forgive the U.S. even though you were A-bombed, got burned, and lost your friends?” the boy from Palestine asked Toshiko. She was an inspiration to him.

The boy with his teacher, a few years after he first met Toshiko. His encounter with Toshiko is described in the book.

Opening her home to people from all over the world

Toshiko with the family of Clifton Truman Daniel, the grandson of former U.S. president Harry S. Truman*

Toshiko with Ari Beser, the grandson of Jacob Beser, a crew member of Enola Gay*

Toshiko’s style of enameling has changed since she started telling her story. “Expressing only the beauty of nature isn’t enough for me,” she said. “I put symbols of peace or nuclear abolition in my pieces somewhere.” She remodeled the first floor of her house to create the “Peace Exchange Space,” a public space for peace and art exchange, with her enamel works adorning the walls. Since then, people from all over Japan and the world have visited her home. In 2012, Clifton Truman Daniel, the grandson of former U.S. president Harry S. Truman, and his family visited her. “Clifton’s wife and I made a small accessory together. She was so happy with that. That’s peace, isn’t it?” Toshiko said in delight. “There must be forgiveness in order to cut the chain of hatred.” She carries out what she taught the Palestinian boy in her daily life, based on her experiences of traveling across the world and interacting with many kinds of people. “If you make friends abroad, even when there are problems between your two countries, you wouldn’t think, ‘Just drop bombs on them.’”

“Peace Ring”
Designed Japanese dry landscape gardens in the U.S.

Toshiko was asked to collaborate with Martin McKeller, the director of dry landscape gardens at the Harn Museum of Art in the U.S., after he spoke with Yumi Kanazaki of the Chugoku Shimbun Newspaper Company. Toshiko made the design for five Japanese dry landscape gardens in the U.S., and on International Peace Day on September 21, 2020, the gardens featured ripple marks in the sand. The Peace Ring drawing event was filmed and made into a video. The drawing event has become an official occasion of the North American Japanese Garden Association since 2021, and it now takes place in 14 locations. Gardens in nine states are engaged in Peace Ring including the Fort Worth Botanical Garden in Texas and a garden in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a site of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons. The drawing event is also held at two sites without dry landscape gardens including the Manzanar National Historic Site in California, where a relocation center for Japanese-American was located during the war. A movement promoting peace in these low-key, creative ways has been spreading in the U.S.

The idea for the drawing event was conceived by Martin McKeller of the Harn Museum of Art. He began pondering what he could do to promote peace after he was stopped by students in Kyoto on a school trip to answer a questionnaire about peace in 1998.

Toshiko’s original design. She calculated the areas of the gardens at a reduced scale and then drew the patterns representing the Japanese characters へ (He), い (I), and わ (Wa). (In Japanese, “heiwa” means “peace” and “wa” by itself means “ring.”)

I was six on that day.

I remember the blue sky I saw through the roof
amid overwhelming devastation.

It continues to encourage me
and teaches me a lesson.

“There is hope
even in dark times.”

Thinking of my late classmates,
I want to fulfill my mission
as an A-bomb survivor.

I want to spread this message
to as many people as possible:
“Nuclear weapons must not exist in the world!”

The “Peace Exchange Space” created by remodeling the first floor of her house and displaying Toshiko’s works.

Her experiences traveling throughout the world and interacting with a wide range of people are reflected in her creations and breathe deep meaning into them. Many of her pieces evoke a kind of cosmic perspective, like looking down on the earth.

The “Peace Exchange Space” created by remodeling the first floor of her house and displaying Toshiko’s works.

Her experiences traveling throughout the world and interacting with a wide range of people are reflected in her creations and breathe deep meaning into them. Many of her pieces evoke a kind of cosmic perspective, like looking down on the earth.

Edited and produced by ANT-Hiroshima

Photography by Mari Ishiko

Text by Aya Yoshimoto and Mika Goto

Translation by Aya Yoshimoto

Translation edited by Adam Beck
and Annelise Giseburt